May 05 2009
Healthy Eating on a Budget
Over the last several days I have reading about healthy lifestyles. My energy level is way too low and it is a struggle to get anything requiring exertion done. My kids are tired. Our allergies are all out of whack. As a family we feel blah and are all cranky. My 11 year old and 8 year old are slightly overweight, not bad, but not great. I decided it is time for a change.
After researching I found my best option is to eat healthier. Although we have chips, cookies and snacks along those lines, we don’t’ do it often. Once in awhile if we are busy we have a quick sandwich and chips and have some for later. Typically, we don’t have snacks throughout the day unless it is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, dry cereal or the like. My two oldest kids seldom eat breakfast and I never do. My two youngest eat breakfast at school. Kids eat a school lunch because we qualify for free lunches and do not have the money to buy food to pack their lunch, sad but true. I am truly worried about lunches during the summer when they are home. They eat a little something if dinner is going to be late, but we try having early dinners since they are always hungry after school.
For dinner, we eat as inexpensively as possible. This means a lot of hamburger meals since our Piggly Wiggly usually has amazing deals. Last night we had hamburger patty’s in a wonderful, albeit fattening, gravy and mashed potatoes (again, Piggy Wiggly had a great sale on potatoes).
Fruit and fresh vegetables are outrageously priced. I understand why and can’t argue the stores need to raise prices, but it doesn’t help the population remain healthy. Milk is over $4 a gallon. Chicken is a rare treat for us because of the high price. Even cans of fruit have added up and we need at least 2 cans to feed all 6 of us.
Juice and bottled water are also out of our league. Sometimes we can catch water on sale, but not often. I know you are thinking, “Why buy bottled water”, well the answer is simple. We have well water that is infilterated with iron and other nasty elements. I don’t mind cooking with it because we boil all the nastiness out, but we can’t drink it. Not only does it look nasty, but it tastes and smells like, well, blood, and we aren’t vampires 
We recently planted a garden so we can do well with veggies during the summer and I plan to can a lot. Still, we need fruit and better options for our meats.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to eat healthier on a strict budget? I know I am being unfair to my children, teaching them bad eating habits and contributing to the likely hood of heart disease and diabetes. I want to change that. I want our energy level back up and the impurities out of our system. HELP PLEASE!!
Can you grow your own veggies? We are planning to have a huge garden this year, complete with corn, peas, beans, peppers, lettuce, zuccini, and eggplant.
Stir fries are an excellent way to get lots of nutrients in your diet for little cost. You can use the vegetables from your garden and serve it with some rice, which goes a long way and will definitely fill you up. Get brown rice if you can. Stir fries are also great because you can add a little bit of meat to it (if you want). You don’t have to buy the expensive cuts or really a lot of it at all. At my store, they mark the meat down the closer it gets to the expiration date, so you can get it for cheaper and use it right away.
Another option is crock-pot meals. You can chop up some vegetables, add some chicken stock (in the soup aisle), and viola! Crock pot meals usually don’t have that many ingredients and I think they tend to be less expensive.
As for the other stuff, wait till it goes on sale and stock up as much as you can. Hope that helps!